Woodstock Academy football leaves ECC; Centaurs join Evergreen Football League

Thursday

Dec 7, 2017 at 3:58 PMDec 7, 2017 at 3:58 PM

sports@norwichbulletin.com

Woodstock Academy was looking for a way to take its football program in a new, more successful and positive direction.On Thursday, the Centaurs applied to and was accepted by the Evergreen Football League, which is comprised of prep school programs.“I think this is a monumental move,” Woodstock Academy athletic director Aaron Patterson said. “What has always impressed me about The Woodstock Academy is its ability to think beyond the norm. This is another example of looking outside the box and trying to do what is best for the student-athlete.”The move means Woodstock Academy will drop its affiliation with both the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and Eastern Connecticut Conference in the sport of football only.“As an institution we strive to put our student-athletes in a position to be successful; on and off the field. There are examples of this throughout the athletic program. Whether it’s a local student, or a student from another country, we want to place them in the best possible position for success,” Head of School Chris Sandford said. “Football, like our girls hockey program and the prep basketball teams, will play in a league that matches the talent and athletic ability of our student-athletes.”Woodstock Academy has struggled to compete in the ECC in the sport.It became an independent program in the 2016-17 season, playing a limited number of games in the last two seasons versus ECC teams.The move nearly quadrupled the average amount of wins in a season the program generated in the 10 seasons prior.But those recent wins came against non-ECC programs.This past season, Woodstock Academy played four league teams, Montville, Griswold, Plainfield and Killingly, and lost by a combined total of 189-31.The last ECC victory the Centaurs recorded was on Sept. 27, 2014 against the St. Bernard-Norwich Tech cooperative.Since it became a varsity program in 2006, the Centaurs have posted a 22-100 record in the sport. Woodstock Academy has never had a .500 season, getting closest the past two seasons when it posted identical 4-6 records.The program has also endured several coaching changes including three in the last three years.This past season was the first for football coach and assistant athletic director Sean Saucier who had coached the Hyde School team in Woodstock, which was located on what is now known as the South Campus at The Woodstock Academy, for the last 14 seasons.It was the hiring of Saucier that opened the door for Woodstock Academy to consider the move.His experience in the league – he served as president for two years – led him to conclude, after a year in the ECC, that playing prep school teams would be better in the long run for his program.That was especially true since Woodstock Academy was scheduled by the ECC to play five league games in 2018 and Saucier was worried not only about being competitive, but also about the safety of his athletes.“One thing I struggled with this year was seeing so many 15-year-old sophomores having to play at the varsity level. To their credit, they did a great job. They competed well and didn’t back down from the challenge, however, in this day of age of safety and football and everything that goes with it, the ability to raise the age of our team and have kids play more age-appropriate football is a huge piece of it,” Saucier said.In the Evergreen Football League, which expanded to 18 teams Thursday, programs are allowed to suit up to three post-graduate players and also have fifth-year seniors. The league will now split into three divisions, based on strength of program which is evaluated annually.“It presents an opportunity for kids who are serious about football, whether they are current or recruited students, to repeat a year. A common prep school practice is for kids to repeat their junior year and do a fifth year that way as opposed to a postgraduate year,” Saucier said.Saucier said the plan is to continue to field both froshmore and varsity programs.“For kids at Woodstock Academy who want to play football, it doesn’t really change a whole lot aside from who you are playing and the opportunity to become more competitive,” Saucier said.In addition, it has become increasingly difficult to find games outside of the ECC. The Centaurs played two Massachusetts teams, three tech school-based programs and the CREC cooperative in 2017. Whether that schedule can be duplicated in the future is another source of concern for Patterson.Instead of a 10-game schedule and potential playoffs as allowed by the CIAC, The Woodstock Academy will now play an eight-game schedule. There is the option for a ninth game at the beginning of the season.The Woodstock Academy will be in a new division along with the other newly-accepted schools, Berkshire School (Sheffield, Mass.); Wilbraham & Monson Academy (Wilbraham, Mass.); Albany Academy (Albany, N.Y.); Canterbury School (New Milford) and Kingswood-Oxford School (West Hartford). The Centaurs will also play three crossover games against teams from the other two divisions.“It’s founded on the idea of like-minded schools, keeping sportsmanship high on the priority list and I think it’s a league that fits our school well,” Saucier said.Woodstock Academy signed a four-year contract to play Killingly High on Thanksgiving Day earlier this year and three years still remain on that deal.Saucier and Patterson both indicated they would be willing to honor that contract if Killingly so desires.The game, however, will not count toward CIAC playoff points for Killingly.“Woodstock Academy does not take decisions like this lightly. We’ve done a lot of thinking about this, put in a lot of homework into it and we think it is best for our student-athletes moving forward,” Patterson said.

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